Group remembers deceased children on Dec. 8

The local chapter of the Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting will be held at Gilwood Haven in Redwood Falls at 7 p.m. on Dec. 8.

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Redwood Falls Gazette

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Posted Dec. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Dec. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The local chapter of the Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting will be held at Gilwood Haven in Redwood Falls at 7 p.m. on Dec. 8.

The annual candle lighting ceremony unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for an hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon.

Starting in New Zealand, candles are lit at 7 p.m. local time. As candles burn down in one time zone, they are lit in the next, creating a virtual 24-hour wave of light as the observance continues around the world.

As candles are lit at 7 p.m. local time, hundreds of thousands of people commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon.

Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on Earth, the 17th annual Worldwide Candle Lighting creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone.

Started in the United States in 1997 as a small Internet observance, the event has since swelled in numbers as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance.

Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died, but will never be forgotten.

The Compassionate Friends and allied organizations are joined by local bereavement groups, churches, funerals homes, hospitals, hospices, childrens’ gardens, schools, cemeteries, and community centers.

Services have ranged in size from just a few people to nearly a thousand.

To contact the Compassionate Friends regarding the candle lighting, please call the toll-free number at 877-969-0010.